Rare Chinese porcelain bowl sells for nearly $27 million

Eric Pfeiffer

Reporter

The SideshowApril 4, 2012

A 900-year-old Chinese bowl has sold at an auction for nearly $27 million on Wednesday.

The extremely rare item was only expected to receive a winning bid of about one-third the eventual total during a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong, Associated Foreign Press reports. The purchase by an anonymous bidder breaks the previous record for the most expensive ceramic bowl from the era. Sotheby's says the bowl is from the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) and easily tops a 2008 auction on a Guan Mallet Vase from the same era.

"The Ruyao Washer is among the most sophisticated achievements in Chinese ceramics. Its appearance on the market has created enormous excitement," Sotheby's Asia deputy chairman Nicolas Chow said.